Who Will Be "Miss Viagra" 2015?

Wowie zowie! Is that a roll of dimes quarters in your pocket or are you just excited to see those sexy women of every ethnic persuasion (except latina?) in Viagra ads? If there were a "Miss Viagra" beauty contest, which one would you crown Miss Viagra 2015? (I included the woman who appeared in the first ad that aired in 2014.)

Which contestant should wear the crown for "Miss Viagra" 2015?

No. 1   No. 2   No. 3   No. 4

BTW, Actress, model and former Miss Hawaii Kelly Hu is featured in one of the new Viagra ads. She’s #4 in the lineup shown above.

My Favorite Drug Ad Celebrities

Drug Advertising Celebrities

2015 Was Another Good Year for Orphan Drugs & Pharma Marketers

UPDATED 4 Jan 2016: FDA approved 45 new drugs in 2015, four more than in 2014 and the highest number since 1996. Twenty-one (21) of those (47%) were "orphan" drugs (find FDA data here). This compares to 17 orphan drugs approved in 2014 or 41% of the total (see CDER New Drug Review: 2015 Update and "2014 Was a Good Year for FDA & Pharma").

Click on image for an enlarged view.

That's good news for the pharma industry, which often submits drugs to the FDA as orphan drugs but once approved the drugs are "used broadly off-label with the lucrative orphan drug protections and exclusivity benefits," according to the authors of a study recently published in the American Journal of Clinical Oncology (read "#Pharma Welfare: 'Orphan' Blockbuster Drugs on Rise - Including Crestor!").

Pharma marketers also have good news regarding FDA marketing enforcement actions in 2015.

Read more »

SEO Made Simple 2016

Many people are wondering if SEO, search engine optimization, still matters.  As someone who's been focused on SEO for a long time, I can definitely say it's essential for success. However, the process of optimizing your website and the process for doing so has radically changed.

Back in the day you could trick search engines into believing that your website had more authority than your competitors. Authority is essentially Google's way of assessing a point value to indicate site popularity. Google has become much more sophisticated and trying to put one over on them is a waste of time.

One of the most fundamental changes in search engine optimization is local optimization. Thanks to the proliferation of mobile devices, most searches using search engines have some type of local intent. This type of search query has changed the Google algorithm and ranking factors. Even if you are a national business, you must think locally and optimize for local search.

The second area that have evolved over the last few years is content.  As I talk about in SEO Made Simple (audio version), content is the driving force behind site authority and valuation.  The more engaging content you produce, the more users will stay on your site, interact with, and share your web pages. This had a dramatic and lasting impact on search engine results.

When people ask me for my optimization advice, I always point to the two items above, local optimization and content creation. When these two factors are at the heart of your optimization strategy, you can influence search engine rankings.

What about those old SEO tactics?

If you're still getting emails from India promotion number one Google rankings, there's probably a bunch of outdated tactics behind it. The best case scenario is that you don't get penalized when these companies start posting links to your website all across the internet. The worst case scenario is that Google catches on (and they will), banning your site.

I've found that websites who have received a Google penalty rarely, if ever, fully recover.  Is it worth the risk?  No, definitely not.  My recommendation is always to learn SEO best practices and either implement them on your own or simply hire a reputable firm to implement specific tactics like blogging, digital assets, etc. under your supervision.

To be successful with search engine optimization, you need to take a fresh approach. Focus on how to build quality information online that others want to interact with. When you do, you'll naturally attract links to your website or blog and improved organic rankings will follow.

Pharmaguy's 2016 New Year's Resolutions for the Pharma Industry

2015 is coming to an end, thankfully. It's not been an especially good year considering that the media and politicians have found a face for evil pharma and rising drug prices: Martin Shkreli!

Shkreli's recent arrest will only heighten pharma's bad press as some people wonder why more pharma CEOs have not been arrested.

Be that as it may, let's look ahead to 2016 and what I recommend as New Year’s Resolutions for the drug industry and especially pharmaceutical marketers. If you're interested in how well my 2015 resolutions fared, go here.

My #1 personal New Year's Resolution is the same every year:

Stop telling the pharmaceutical industry what to do all the time. Unfortunately, I have never kept that resolution. So, here's my recommended list of 2016 resolutions for pharma...

Read more »

Are All Pharma CEOs Martin Shkrelis?

Martin Shkreli claims he was arrested because he tried to maximize his company's profits by raising the price of a life-saving drug. There is no doubt that may have been a factor in the timing of the arrest, which resulted in even more attention to common practices employed by the drug industry to keep drug prices high and maximize profits as this NYT editorial points out.

NYT Editors: Shkreli No Different Than Other Pharma Leaders

Pharma Wars: Meet Shkreli the Hutt

Not such a long time ago in a pharma company pretty close by...

Looking Back on My 2015 New Year's Resolutions for Pharma

Before I publish my recommendations for 2016, let me review my 2015 New Year's Resolutions for pharma to see how many were actually achieved.

2015 Resolution #1: Forget about using Twitter to promote brand name drugs to consumers.

I don't know if pharma marketers have forgotten about doing branded tweets, but I haven't come across any nor have I heard many laments about how hard it is to overcome FDA's social media regulatory hurdles.

But there was one failed attempt to bypass the FDA via a promotional post on Instagram. Of course that was a post on Instagram by Kim Kardashian promoting Diclegis.

Before the Instagram ink was even dry the FDA sent a Warning Letter to Duchesnay, the drug’s maker. That letter put the kibosh on the “one-click rule”:

“We note the statement, ‘[F]ind out more www.diclegis.com; www.DiclegisImportantSafetyInfo.com[,]’ appears at the end of the social media post; however, this does not mitigate the misleading omission of risk information. By omitting the risks associated with DICLEGIS, the social media post misleadingly fails to provide material information about the consequences that may result from the use of the drug and suggests that it is safer than has been demonstrated.”

Read more »

My Twitter Audience as of Dec 2105

The following is an "Audience Insights" analysis of my Twitter account (@pharmaguy). You can also learn more about my audience from results to date of my reader survey.

Click on image for an enlarged view.

Gallery of Drug Advertising Mascots

These are my all-time favorite drug “mascots” (I call them critters) seen in direct-to consumer ads. Along with the gallery of images, I offer links to more information and the ads themselves (at least in a few cases).

If you know of any that I have missed, please tell me about it in comments to this post or contact me via Twitter: @pharmaguy.

Pharmaguy's Gallery of Drug Advertising Mascots from PharmaGuy.com

What the Drug Industry Can Learn from FDA's Social Media Policy

The FDA recently posted a new social media policy, but it's not for the pharmaceutical industry. The policy is for its own employees (read "FDA Releases a Long-Awaited Social Media Policy").

Like similar policies developed by pharma companies such as Roche (here), FDA's SM policy provides guidance to their employees about how to use social media for personal and professional purposes.

"The FDA encourages the use of social media technologies to enhance communication, collaboration, and information exchange in support of FDA’s mission to protect and promote public health," states the introduction. "This policy applies to FDA employees, contractors, and other personnel acting in an official capacity when using social media to communicate with the public regarding FDA-related matters."

I read "between the lines" to determine if this policy offers any hints as to how the FDA may further regulate pharma's use of social media in the future, especially with regard to correcting/deleting comments posted to its own sites and linking to external third-party sites.

Read more »

How to Use Pricing Psychology to Generate Sales

No matter the market, developing a pricing strategy is essential for ensuring something sells. However, the price can't be determined based solely on what the seller hopes to get for it; there are a variety of factors that come into play, including demand and the current market atmosphere. There are a number of psychological tricks that come into play, as well.

Pricing Based on Market

In some situations, you can price a product as high as you want -- and no one will buy it unless they are stupid. For example, a real estate agent would advise homeowners against pricing a home $200,000 over the market price. If the homes on a street are identical, but one is priced much higher, it may attract more initial interest; after all, buyers are curious. However, once they realize it has no advantage over any of the competitors, they will certainly settle on the lower priced options.

Pricing Based on Competition

Another strategy for pricing something to sell is based on the price the competition sells for. This is a common retail strategy; store A will offer a product for one price, while store B offers it for several dollars less. In most cases, store B will have the market for that product because of the pricing difference. The only time customers would choose to buy at Store A would be due to convenience. Of course, there are downsides to this: the profit margins usually end up being very narrow. The 'race to the bottom' tactics only benefit consumers, not businesses.

Pricing Based on Loyalty

This is often called a penetration strategy. A company will sell a very high-quality product at a price much lower than the competition would. This is most often used for smaller companies trying to break into an industry dominated by giants; it allows them to get a wedge of the market share without offering any initial innovation, but through building customer loyalty, they're able to build slowly until they can compete with the bigger players.

Loss Leaders

This price strategy definition is sometimes called promotional pricing. Because the business doesn't make any profit off the initial sale, it's called a 'loss leader' -- it brings customers in to purchase other products that will turn a profit. The initial purchase is just to capture their interest. As a result, the original product is usually priced much lower than the market is asking.

Using an 'Almost' Price

This tactic is exceedingly common. Companies will price a product at $4.99 instead of $5, but because it isn't quite $5, customers don't see it as so great an expense. It's a simple way to trick the brain into believing a product actually costs significantly less than it does, even if the actual price difference is only one cent off.

These four pricing strategies in marketing examples should help you better understand how to implement them into your own business. By using smart pricing strategies and psychologies, you can begin to generate sales even if there are far stronger competitors against you.

This post comes from Sarah, an inspirational writer who is taking QLD real estate course online at NREL Australia to grow her marketing career. She is part of crews at a specialized training center for the real estate industry, working with entrepreneurs and small business owner to upskills and achieve results that raise the standards of professionalism and respect in the Real Estate industry.

Street Prices of Rx Brand-Name Drugs Increase as Much as 400%!

Drug companies always claim that the wholesale price of drugs is not an good indicator of what patients, insurers, and the government pay. So a new study published in JAMA Dermatology looked at the retail prices 19 brand-name prescription dermatologic drugs sold at four national chain pharmacies in the West Palm Beach, Fla., area (Costco, CVS, Sam’s Club and Walgreens) in 2009, 2011, 2014 and 2015.

The authors found that between 2009 and 2015:

• Prices of all surveyed classes of brand-name drugs increased; the average increase was 401 percent. Prices of topical antineoplastic drugs had the greatest average absolute and percentage increase of nearly $10,927 and 1,240 percent. 
• Prices of drugs in the antiinfective class had the smallest average absolute increase of almost $334. 
• Prices of psoriasis medications had the smallest average percentage increase of 180 percent. 
• The retail prices of seven drugs more than quadrupled during the study period, with the vast majority of price increases occurring after 2011. 

“Percent increases for multiple, frequently prescribed medications greatly outpaced inflation, national health expenditure growth, and increases in reimbursement for physician services,” the study concludes.

There was one surprising finding.

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How To Market A Company After You Buy It

Buying a business is one of the best ways for someone to become their own boss. There are many different things to remember when it comes to buying a business. First of all, the legal step when buying a business is to sign a contract with the price that is agreed on. Although that sounds simple in theory, there are other things to keep in mind during this process. There are many contract agreement forms that must be signed before the business can officially be turned over. 

Marketing the new business is something that many people do not understand. Here are several tips in marketing for anyone who has just bought a new business.

Invest Early

It is vital to invest in marketing early on in the process. When buying a new business, it can be tempting to simply put all of the time and energy into getting the business up and running again. However, marketing needs to be considered an essential future component of running the business. 

There are many people who understand this and have had success. With all of the different technology available today, there is no excuse not to leverage this into something larger in terms of marketing.

Use Social Media

Social media is one of the best things a business can have when it comes to spreading the word about its products and services. However, social media must be used correctly in order to have leverage with customers. Simply producing content is not enough to drive the results that are needed. Always make sure to take a targeted approach to social media when trying to attract your customers. This focused effort will pay off over the long run.

Thank You Notes

Many people forget about the power of thank you notes in our new world of technology. However, this is one of the best ways to make your company stand out from the rest. Especially when first starting out, this can be a great way of letting customers know of the business transition after the purchase. Once your customer base grows to a certain level this will not be possible, but until then this is a great gesture to make towards customers.

Build a Website

If your company does not already have a website in the purchase agreement, make sure that you start building one the moment you take over. A website is an essential marketing tool in today's world. Anyone who wants to reach the most customers they can needs to make sure their website is as high quality as possible.

Treat Customers Right

The best marketing tool that anyone new business owner can have is to simply treat customers the right way. If customers have a great experience with a company, they have a much better chance of coming back to do business with them against. Over the long term, the most successful companies are those that treat customers the right way.

About the Author: Tully Rickets is a writer with interests in healthy living and marketing. When he's not blogging about healthy behaviors, he enjoys researching ideas for his marketing website from many blogs and websites.

A Pfizer-Stuffed Allergan for Wall Street Thanksgiving!

See the recipe below.

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Increased DTC Advertising and Rising Drug Prices - Is There a Causal Link?

There's no denying two facts:

FACT #1: Spending on prescription drugs is increasing dramatically. The Chicago Tribune, quoting data from IMS health, reported (here) that "Spending [in 2014] rose 13 percent [vs. 2013], the biggest jump since 2001, to a total of $374 billion" and

FACT #2: Spending on Direct-to-Consumer Advertising (DTCA) of prescription drugs is also increasing - more so, in fact. Kanter Media reported that the drug industry increased measured media ad spending by 19% in 2014 vs 2013 to $4.5 Bn (see chart below).

Click on chart for an enlarged view.

Is there a causal link between these two facts? Does DTC advertising raise the cost of drugs?

Read more »

Online And Offline Marketing Strategies That Make a Difference

Today's world tends to be one of extremes, particular in terms of business; rather than focusing on both online and offline marketing, companies will do one or the other. However, it's important to combine your efforts. When you market online, do it offline as well. A marketing campaign that combines both online and offline elements are more effective, cost-efficient, and successful than one that focuses only on one or the other.

1. Embrace the hashtag
Hate it or love it, the hashtag is here to stay. The key to successfully using a hashtag is to remain consistent in your usage; make sure to use the same hashtag each and every time across all platforms. Use it on your offline marketing materials as those online. Within time, your business will become known for that specific hashtag, even though you have no 'real' ownership of it. .

2. Content In the online world, content is king. The same applies offline. By providing helpful, high-value content to visitors of your website, you give them a reason to return time and time again. Your offline efforts should be to direct users to the relevant pages online. A marketing strategy example of this is to send purchasers of a garlic press to your company's Pinterest page or blog for recipes that use garlic. .

3. Check-In on mobile devices People love to announce where they are online. It's the modern-day status symbol. That said, you can easily make use of this by having customers check-in when they're at your store. Offer a small discount at checkout if they can prove they've checked in. Not only will this encourage more people to do so, but you'll receive free advertising and social proof online as a result. It can be as easy as hanging up a fence sign that says, "Check in on Facebook here!" This is an even more effective strategy if you run a trendy store like a coffee shop. .

4. Use custom URLS By using custom URLs, you can track your efforts and find out how much of your traffic is coming from your offline efforts. Bit.ly and other websites allow you to create customized, short URLS that are easy for users to enter but provide you with the information you want: how many people used that URL to find your website. For example, if you're preparing a campaign for the upcoming holiday season, a cloth banner printing with your URL on it will let you track how many looked for more information through that URL. .

5. Use QR codesMuch like check-ins, QR codes can be used to offer discounts, display more information about a product, and much more. Over 50% of web traffic is from mobile devices, and people never leave home without their phones. By ensuring you include QR codes in all of your offline marketing material, you can grab your customer's attentions and direct them to your online presence.

It's important to make use of every marketing avenue available to you. By mixing both your online and offline strategies, you reach out to two separate demographics and create a more coherent marketing strategy. Developing a marketing plan that makes use of both offline and online elements can give you an edge over other companies in your sphere that haven't yet caught on.

About the Author: Tully Rickets is a writer with interests in healthy living and marketing. When he's not blogging about healthy behaviors, he enjoys researching ideas for his marketing website from many blogs and websites.

Bernie Sanders Blasts FDA Commish Nominee Califf on Drug Reimportation

Senator Bernie Sanders laid into FDA Commissioner nominee Robert Califf during yesterday's Senate hearing. Here's a snippet of his comments regarding reimportation of Rx drugs as a means to lower drug prices - an issue of importance to 91% of voters (for more on that, read this):

Bernie Sanders to Robert Califf: "You're Not the One."

How Kim Kardashian Got Hired to Shill for Diclegis by "Auditioning" in a Nutraceutical Ad

You may recall that the FDA sent a letter to Duchesnay Inc. because an Instagram post by Kim Kardashian promoting the company's morning sickness drug Diclegis violated the law (read "Kim Kardashian's Diclegis Instagram Post Raises Issues").

Some time afterward, Alex Peterson, SVP, Health Practice Director at Makovsky -- the agency that hired Kim to do the Diclegis Instagram social media campaign - claimed that Makovsky, through social monitoring, knew that Kardashian was struggling with nausea during her first pregnancy. She’d been talking about morning sickness for weeks (read this account).

No doubt Makovsky also knew that Kardashian promoted nutraceuticals years earlier in 2010. As reported by STAT, in a video ad for QuickTrim (see end of this post), "Khloe Kardashian rolls languorously in a tangle of white sheets and asks, 'Do you feel sexy? Do you have the body you’ve always dreamed of?' The shot switches to her sister Kim, shimmying out of a pool and commanding viewers to 'Create the body you deserve'" (read "Celebrity selfies, lax regulations drive booming supplement industry").

Makovsky claimed they reached out to tell Kim about Diclegis and found out that she was already taking the drug -- her doctor had just prescribed it.

But could Kim have been talking about her morning sickness as a prelude to working with Makovsky so that the above account by Peterson would sound perfectly plausible?

Read more »

Brand Update : Will Tata Motors be made great by Messi

In a really surprising move, Tata Motors roped in the football legend Lionel Messi as the brand ambassador. Tata Motors has been in a sticky wicket in the last few years. Once the Indica magic was over, Tata motors were not able to produce a volume player. Nano was a disappointment and the company watched its competitor  rolling out best sellers year after year. 

The company had been working hard behind the scenes under the revival strategy named Horizon Next. The first two products under this plan were the Zest and Bolt. Both gained good reviews in the market, but the baggage of the Tata Motors brand was pulling down any scope for a spectacular show.

Perception is powerful and often enduring and it is not easy to change perceptions. The  lack of perfection and nagging complaints of earlier Tata Motors cars created strong perceptions which are proving to be a tough nut to crack. Tata Motors is one of those brands which people know, like and trust but doesn't want to buy. 

The big endorsement from Messi is another effort of Tata Motors to change perceptions. The brand knew that it is losing out from the mind of the younger generation. With the competition in the Indian market is global, nothing less than a global icon will do for a brand like Tata Motors. 

The company is currently running the endorsement campaign named " Made of Great ".

Watch the ad here: Tata Motors Made of Great 

The ad is all about Messi. The new campaign is all about Messi and Tata Motors attempt to make some connect with this iconic football player. 

The Messi effect would come into play with the new launches of Tata Motors. According to news reports, the new launch Tata Kite was teased in the above-mentioned ad. The new launches would benefit from this high profile endorsement. 

While Messi would rekindle some interest in Tata Motors, what is important is to make good the flaws that created the perception that is preventing brands from Tata Motors to have customer preference in the buying process. Products from Tata Motors are in the bottom of the consideration set in most cases. Consumers will consider products for purchasing only if caters to some minimum requirements. Sadly somewhere the products of Tata Motors is lacking ( or perceived to be lacking ) on those vital parameters. 

Hopefully, as the ad goes, Tata Motors would rediscover those factors which make the products great. 

5 Easy Tips to Kickstart a Google Business Page

Google plus local business page effects small business's marketing in a positive way. When you create Google+ business page, you increase the chances of getting highly targeted visitors from Google's organic search results. You should pay attention to this strategy as it brings your business to the top as far as Google searches are concerned. Increasing authority and influence of your business and adding directions to your brand are benefits that you will not want to miss. You don't need a web designer to create a professional Google Plus business page. It is DIY process that can take only a few minutes to complete. This article highlights five easy Tips to Kickstart a Google Business Page.

#1 Verify Your Google Business Listing

The next step after creating a Google+ business page is to verify your business information. Any update that you include on your Google+ business profile such as description, contact details, operating hours or photos appears on the Google Maps and other Google properties. Before you add your local business, make sure meets the given Google guidelines

#2 Make Your Google Business Page Visually Appealing

You should put in extra effort to make sure your Google Business page is visually appealing. You can achieve this by adding appropriate branding information such as informative videos and captivating cover images. If you are running a boutique business, you can add beautiful behind-the-scenes photos on the cover section. If you are running a bakery business, you can add captivating photos of daily specials to draw in customers. You can also include external links to your social media sites to help improve your Google Search ranking.

#3 Using Hashtags Frequently and Strategically

Just like Twitter, Google Plus also has an open posting environment that supports the usage of hashtags. You can check things that are trending in your local areas under "What's Hot." In any trending hashtag, you can start your conversation or comment of the active conversations. As an added advantage, these hashtags also appear in Google searches. Additionally, when visitors search for your business, Google retrieves the recent Google+ post that you made on your page.

#4 Take Advantage of Gifs

Optimising Google business page also require you to take advantage of Gifs. However stupid they may look, Gifs are considered Google plus gold. In addition to allowing Gifs to play automatically on your page, Google Plus also offers a tool that collects your photo's to create Gifs for them. Engaging and funny Gifs not only adds beauty but also adds interest to the posts being shared. Unlike other social media business platforms, Google Plus business page is the only medium that plays gifs automatically. So you will need to utilize this feature.

#5 Continue Sharing Images

Make sure you include a high-quality, interesting and relevant photo in your post. Posts with images perform well compared to text-only posts. If you have other social media pages, you will find that these same rules apply. You can use an image that encourages your audience to click. Post interesting images and infographics with helpful information and share them on your other social media sites. One of the brands that understand how to use images on their social media platforms including Google Plus is the National Geographic.

About the Author : Tully Rickets is a writer with interests in healthy living and marketing. When he's not blogging about healthy behaviors, he enjoys researching ideas for his marketing website from many blogs and websites.

Pharma Digital Investment is Increasing, But Still Only 3-6% of the Total Promotional Spend

Every year I get a call from a market analyst asking me what the trend is for digital marketing spending in the pharmaceutical industry. He wants to know if the profits of health websites, which depend on drug display ads, will increase or decrease next year.

Who am I to judge?

I only report the data I glean from various sources. For example, recent data from IMS Health Global Pharmaceuticals Marketing Channel Reference indicates that worldwide pharmaceutical industry investment (i.e., spending) in sales force and marketing channels was nearly $71 billion in 2014 - a drop in 1.4% from 2013. BUT... the digital channel investment increased 32%!

Source: IMS Health. Click on image for an enlarged, readable view.

However, spending on digital channels accounts for only $2.3bn or 3.2% of the total $71 billion promotional spend worldwide.

Let's dive a bit deeper into the data and compare it to other estimates over the years.

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In-Video Drug Ads on YouTube: Should They be "Non-Skippable?"

Yesterday, I wanted to cook stuffed artichokes for dinner. So, I searched Google for a video and found this on YouTube: "ITALIAN STUFFED ARTICHOKES - SICILIAN STYLE - EASTER DINER RECIPE."

Before the cooking lesson started, there was an in-video ad for an Rx drug, the name of which I can't recall right now. No matter. After 15 seconds or so I realized I could click on "Skip Ad" and not hear any more of the side effects, aka FDA-required Important Safety Information (ISI), "major statement," and "Fair Balance" stuff that is usually crammed into Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) TV ads after about 20 or 30 seconds.

Ruth Day of Duke University once said of print and TV DTC drug ads (here): “Risk information is physically present but functionally absent.” This accurately describes what's happening in skippable in-video DTC ads on Youtube.

According to YouTube Help, there are two versions of in-video ads: (1) skippable ads like the one I saw, and (2) non-skippable ads.

It seems that pharma uses only the former, not the latter. Is this acceptable?

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History of the Pharmaguy Pioneer Hawaiian Shirt

The yellow and black Hawaiian shirt is the symbol of the Pharmaguy Social Media Pioneer Award, better known as the “Pharmaguy Pioneer Award” for short.

What began as an outlandish ploy to grab attention has gradually become one of the most iconic and recognizable trophies in digital pharmaceutical marketing.

After the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced it would hold a public hearing regarding regulation of pharma's use of the Internet and social media in November, 2009 (here), Pharmaguy started appearing at conferences in the iconic shirt, which was left over from a Hunter S. Thompson Halloween costume (here).

Left: Pharmaguy as Hunter S. Thompson at a 2009 Halloween party.
Right: Pharmaguy at the 3rd Annual Digital Pharma East "un" conference
(there is some controversy regarding the sequence of these events)

That Halloween season was a scary time and attendees of the 3rd Annual Digital Pharma East "un" conferences anticipated much "fear in loathing" in Washington, DC at the upcoming FDA hearing!

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AMA #AHealthierNation Tweet Chat: How to Get Physicians Involved in Development of Digital Tools

Yesterday, while trolling my Twitter streams for content, I happened upon #AHealthierNation chat sponsored by the American Medical Association (AMA). According to AMA's promo page (here):

"The potential impact of digital technology on health care is undeniable. Our tweet chat examined the role physicians should play in shaping the future of digital medicine and how new innovations can enhance workflow and expand the physician-patient relationship."

According to symplur analytics, the chat included over 100 participants, more than 500 tweets, and 22.4 million impressions! I was responsible for 10 tweets, which garnered 239,000 impressions.

Seven questions were up for discussion:

1. How do you get physicians involved in the development of tools for digital medicine?
2. Not everyone can be an inventor, so where do physician feedback opportunities exist?
3. Have too many digital solutions overlooked the basics of a physician's workflow and the need to create efficiencies?
4. With user-centered design, what are the biggest challenges for two very different users: physicians and patients?
5. For a patient, what does engagement look like? How has the attention around wearables figured into that definition?
6. What are the obstacles that must be addressed for wearable to receive broader physician adoption?
7. What do we need to learn to make digital health/medicine a success in the future?

Questions 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6 generated the most discussion. Here's my synopsis/review (see the complete #AHealthierNation tweet timeline embedded at the end of this post).

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Is Martin Shkreli a Psychopath?

Martin Shkreli, CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, is a former hedge fund manager who has become the public face of the drug pricing controversy after his company raised the price of the anti-infection drug Daraprim by more than 5,000 percent.

Now the Senate’s special committee on aging requested documents and information from Turing and invited Shkreli to testify.

Shkreli taunted politicians on Tweeter days before the Senate invite, saying he was "In DC. If any politicians want to start, come at me" (read "Senate Invites Turing CEO Shkreli to Visit. Just What He Wanted!") - a taunt typical of a Psychopath. Indeed, Shkreli has been called a "morally bankrupt sociopath," a "greedy sociopath," a "sociopathic bounty hunter," and an "evil sociopathic asshole."

I don't think Shkreli is a sociopath - I think he better fits the profile of a psychopath. To find out, I took a PsychCentral "Psychopathy Quiz" posing as Shkreli and supplying answers I thought indicative of his behavior. So, how did he score?

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Yeah, Market Research Still Matters...

Successful businesses have expansive knowledge about their competitors and customers. Market research is the process of gathering market data about the current and potential customers to enable you react to the potential or current products or services. Many small businesses carry out market research without even knowing they are doing so. For instance, when a small business owner inquires from customers about how they feel about the services offered, or a business owner checks competitor product prices, then he/she is conducting market research.

The main aim of market research is to prepare for the marketing research report. Marketing research report includes a summary of the important data and analysis of the data for decision making in the business. Market research has been enhanced with the advent of the internet which makes it possible to reach the target market quickly and with ease and still gain important consumer knowledge to drive business forward.

The main questions property decision makers would want to ask themselves is - is there a useful way to conduct market research for a property business to make informed decisions about the way forward? And why is market research important? These questions can be answered by understanding how effective and efficient market research can be to help business find the opportunities and strengths, and where to eliminate opportunities to help the business expand.

Let’s start with why is market research important? Market research defines a clear direction for a company. When market research is done effectively and market research report is prepared well, businesses have a clear view of the customer needs and a clear path which the company need to take to achieve the needs of the prospective customers. Unfortunately, many small businesses may not be in a position spend the thousands of dollars to hire the most reputable market research firms. In this regard, many of them prefer to ignore taking market research into consideration or use approaches which may not lead to useful information.

The importance of market research include helping to understand the market, which may include the target age bracket, target gender and other demographics. Market research is critical to understand the competition, know the right product customers need and building connections.

Big Data has been a game charger as far as market research is concerned. Market researchers are faced with large amounts of data to analyze and monitor both online and offline to understand the customer needs. In this regard, Big Data is continually being used by researchers as a compliment to market research to know what consumers need and monitor changes in tastes and preferences. The five insights gained include - creating a more accurate profile of the target customers, to monitor and analyze the consumer reaction to product offerings and marketing messages, develop strategies for retaining customers in a more effective and efficient way, plan marketing campaigns and digital marketingto the target groups and monitor changes in tastes and preferences.

Queensland property market is currently a BOOM market thanks to Queensland’s economy which has started to improve. For instance, the latest RP Data CoreLogic Home Value Index for Brisbane show an increase of 0.7% for September 2014, 0.6% increase over the last quarter of 2014 and 6.4% year-to-year increase. Small businesses investing in Queensland property market should use these kinds of market data and outsource market research from property research companies to achieve real value of their investment.

This post comes from Sarah, an inspirational writer. She is part of crews at Real Estate Academy Australia (a specialized training center for the real estate industry), working with entrepreneurs and small business owner to grow their careers and achieve results that raise the standards of professionalism and respect in the Real Estate industry.

The Value of Medical Content Channels According to HCPs vs Pharma Professionals

A study conducted from July – August 2015 by EPG Health Media, publisher of epgonline.org (a website for healthcare professionals) found some "significant gaps and imbalances" between how healthcare professionals (HCPs) and pharma industry professionals (Pharma) view the value of medical content delivery channels.

Keep in mind that the results are based on a very limited number of survey participants, which include 216 HCPs and 137 pharmaceutical industry professionals (66 pharmaceutical professionals and 71 service providers).

I selected a few channels to look at (mostly digital) and replotted the data in the following chart, which shows the percent of respondents (HCPs v. Pharma) who consider that the channels have moderate or significant value for HCPs.

Click on image for an enlarged view.

What are the key takeaways from this study?

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Relaxing Rules for Off-Label Prescribing: "Akin to Crying 'Fire!' in a Crowded Theater?"

In the Amarin court case, the court ruled that the company has the right, under the First Amendment, to promote information to health-care professionals about certain uses of the drug Vascepa that aren't covered by the drug's FDA-approved labeling -- as long as the information is true and not misleading (read "Amarin Wins Off-Label Case Against FDA"). This case is likely to influence new guidance from the FDA regarding off-label drug promotion by pharma marketers.

"Might changes in rules for promotion of off-label indications based on free speech arguments lead to a situation akin to crying fire in a crowded theater?," asks authors of Commentary published in the recent issue of JAMA Internal Medicine. The authors of the commentary -- Chester B. Good, M.D., M.P.H., and Walid F. Gellad, M.D., M.P.H., of the Veterans Affairs Pittsburgh Heathcare System -- referred to "compelling evidence" that "off-label prescribing is frequently inappropriate and that prescribing in these circumstances increases the risk for an adverse event substantially."

That evidence was presented in a study published in the same issue of the journal titled "Off-label Prescription Drug Use and Adverse Drug Events" (JAMA Intern Med. Published online November 2, 2015. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2015.6058).

What is the "compelling evidence?"

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Pharma Influence Over ePatients: Marketing Tactics That Worked for Physicians are Working for Patients, But It's Called "Patient Centricity"

I attended ExL Pharma's ePatient Connections conference (#ePatCon on Twitter) in Philadelphia this past Thursday and met a few interesting people. Although some pundits doubt the usefulness of these conferences, it's always good to get out of the box of your office and talk to people - you might learn something. Let me share what I learned.

A majority of the ePatients attending were presenters sponsored by my friends at WEGO Health who paid their expenses. WEGO Health funds its support for its Health Activist community through transparent, community-vetted advertising and sponsorships from health companies: research, content development, education, events, conferences, distribution programs, ad networks and more.

Every ePatient I spoke to at the conference wants a pharmaceutical company to hire him or her. As one person told me, "I want to turn my avocation into a vocation." That person has a Twitter account (@tvsoccerdad) with less than a thousand followers. Other ePatients boast of having a few thousand followers on Twitter. But it's their experience and passion that really qualifies them as paid consultants to pharma.

Indeed, many ePatient tweeters and bloggers are being paid by pharma. One example is the German MS patient blogger/journalist I wrote about some time ago who contributes articles to "Living Like You," a Novartis Pharma AG website. The problem is, most of the time these ePatients do not reveal the nature of their relationship with pharma (read "Transparency is Good in Theory, But Not in Practice").

What other ways can ePatients work with pharma?

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The Bayer Healthcare Grants4Apps® Team Receives the 6th Annual Pharmaguy SoMobile Pioneer Award!

For immediate release:

Philadelphia, PA, October 29, 2015: Today, at the ePatient Connections conference, Pharmaguy presented the 6th Annual Pharmaguy™ SoMobile Pioneer Award to Bayer HealthCare Grants4Apps (#G4A) team.

Team Members Include:

• Esther-Kristin Lather, Program Manager (left in photo)
• Jesus del Valle, Head of Grants4Apps (center in photo)
• Mathilde Saingeon, Match Maker (right in photo)
• Jannis Busch, Operations (not shown) 

The Bayer HealthCare Grants4Apps™ program invites health app developers to submit their innovative app ideas for novel software that contributes to improving health outcomes or pharmaceutical processes. Bayer HealthCare considers an "App" as software solution based on any platform. The program offers dedicated office space for five digital health startups to support them in further advancing their projects and business models. Each startup receives up to 50,000 Euros. Bayer offers experienced managers as coaches to the startups, in addition to intensive mentoring by external entrepreneurs.

What is the Pharmaguy SoMobile Pioneer Award?

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Journalists & Physicians Use Superlatives, Some Supplied by FDA - e.g., "Breakthrough" - to Describe Unapproved Cancer Drugs

The use of superlatives to describe cancer drugs in news articles as “breakthrough,” “revolutionary,” “miracle” or in other grandiose terms was common even when drugs were not yet approved, had no clinical data or not yet shown overall survival benefits, according to an article published online by JAMA Oncology (JAMA Oncol. Published online October 29, 2015).

The authors searched for 10 superlatives (breakthrough, game changer, miracle, cure, home run, revolutionary, transformative, life saver, groundbreaking and marvel) in conjunction with the term “cancer drug” in a Google news search earlier this year between June 21 and June 25. The authors found 94 articles from 66 news outlets with 97 superlative mentions meeting the study criteria and referring to 36 specific drugs. Half of the drugs described had not yet received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for at least one indication.

Most of the 97 superlatives were used by journalists (55 percent); physicians (27 percent); industry experts (9 percent); patients (8 percent) and one member of Congress (1 percent). In 55 percent of the cases, the superlative was used by the author of the article without any other attribution.

Where do these journalists and physicians get their information about investigational drugs; i.e., drugs that have not yet been approved by the FDA?

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Amgen Wants to Own Your Protected Health Information in Exchange for Copay Card

Amgen is the Rumpelstiltskin of the drug industry.

As reported by MedPage Today/CardioBrief, "Doctors, pharmacists, patients and others are now starting to learn that in order to receive financial assistance from Amgen for its expensive new cholesterol drug Repatha, patients are being required to surrender rights to their personal information, including their personal health information."

Not even HIPAA-protected health information is off limits.

"The agreement specifically states that by agreeing to the terms [of Amgen's privacy policy] patients may lose federal HIPAA protection," notes CardioBrief.

Patients must agree that they "understand that Amgen may use [their] personal information, including [their] personal health information, for 10 years once [they] accept this Authorization ..."

What other nasty things must poor people agree to in order to get a copay card?

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